


totally not jealous

by sad_squonk



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Animan au, F/M, Protect Nino, akward, jealous! adrien, jealous! alya, the most awkward date in the history of dates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:34:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21929782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sad_squonk/pseuds/sad_squonk
Summary: This story was written for the Miraculous Ladybug Holidays Fanfiction Exchange!Animan AU!Instead of lying and saying he likes Alya, Nino admits he likes Marinette. A hilariously awkward date ensues. Adrien and Alya are totally not jealous.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Nino Lahiffe
Comments: 5
Kudos: 89





	totally not jealous

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written for the Miraculous Ladybug Holidays Fanfiction Exchange for u/essiemaccat!

“The girl I like,” Nino trailed off, taking a deep breath. He glanced at the bush Adrien was hiding in, avoiding Marinette’s curious bluebell eyes. “It’s you?” He laughed nervously, “I mean, you’re the coolest dude- I mean girl- I know.“ 

Marinette blushed, “Nino that’s sweet of you,” she started, trying to find a way to let him down gently. She waited for Alya to coach her but the other end of the wire was dead silent. “I like you too!” She stumbled over her words, mentally facepalming. 

“I knew you could do it!” Adrien cheered through the earpiece, trying to fight down the weird feeling in his stomach. 

He pumped his fist in the air, “Cool! Want to go see the panther, Mari?”

The blunette tried to smile, but it came out more like a grimace. “Sure!” 

As they were walking to the exhibit, Marinette caught sight of Kim taunting the panther and his handler. 

She ran up, forgetting about Nino, “Stop it Kim! Making fun of an animal who can’t even speak for itself is a whole new low,” she said sternly, glaring disapprovingly at the tall boy. 

He seemed sheepish, “Whatever. Sorry Marinette,” and moved on to go see the monkeys.

Marinette gave a kind smile to the handler, “She’s beautiful, she really is. Bet she’s fast too.” 

The handler puffed out his chest, “She sure is. My pride and joy.”

A dark butterfly changed directions, fluttering away but not before catching Marinette’s keen eye. 

“I’ll be back. I need to go to the... uh- washroom?” She squeaked, running off.

Nino watched her go, a dreamy look on his face. 

She quickly transformed before catching the small butterfly and whispering “De-evillize!”

Transforming back, she sprinted toward Nino. “Sorry, I had a bad lunch?” She offered as an excuse. Both her and Nino’s face turned bright red.

Alya let out an annoyed sigh. “Girl,” She scolded, “You do not bring that up during a date!” Alya felt her stomach curdle at the word ‘date’. She must just be disappointed that Adrienette wasn’t happening, she thought, trying to make sense of the feeling.

“Cool,” Nino said, awkwardly. “Cool, cool, cool.” 

Marinette let out a stifled giggle, “Want to go see another exhibit?”

Nino smiled, “Sure. I heard the elephants were pretty cool.” That was a lie. He didn’t hear anything about elephants. He didn’t even know if the zoo had elephants. 

Apparently they did, and they were pretty awesome. They ended their date with a quick, stiff hug and both left their separate ways. 

When Marinette finally met up with Alya, she sighed, “Well that’s not what I was expecting.”

Alya seemed absent minded, letting out a quiet, “Yeah… me too.”

Marinette’s expression dimmed, “Oh Alya… You like Nino, don’t you?”

She let out a forced laugh, “What? Girl, you’re crazy.” Before letting her face fall and heaving a depressed sigh. “Maybe a bit,” she admitted.

“I’m sorry, Alya. I’ll tell him tomorrow at school that it was a misunderstanding,” Marinette promised. 

Alya gave her a weak smile, “It’s fine. Boys are dumb anyway.” 

Marinette nodded her head so quick it almost gave her whiplash. “I 100% agree,” she gave one last lingering look to her wall of Adrien pictures. 

Alya wrapped her arm around the shorter girl, “Who needs boys?” She laughed. 

~

“That went… well,” Adrien forced out, giving a practiced smiled. 

“I know!” Nino grinned, “It’s all thanks to you dude!” 

Adrien felt a dark mass of jealousy build in his throat, Marinette is just a friend.

Nino was taking, his mouth was moving animatedly but Adrien didn’t know what he was saying. “Huh?”

“-I said I was going to ask Mari to be my girlfriend tomorrow.”

That shook Adrien out of his jealousy induced haze, “No!” He yelped. Nino gave him a curious, hurt look. Adrien rushed to add, “Marinette seems like the kind of girl who’d want to take things slow. You might scare her off.”

Nino hummed, considering it, “True. You’re a lifesaver. I would have never of thought of that.”

“Yeah,” Adrien barreled on, unable to stop the word vomit spewing from his mouth, he swore Plagg was off laughing at him somewhere. “She’s really shy, you know? I mean, you guys have know eachother since you were in diapers. It’s going to be a big change for both of you. It’ll take both of you a while to adjust. Get her flowers maybe? That’s a step. Blue like her eyes? Not a pale blue, a darker one that’s more alive, you know? I bet she loves flowers, she’s artistic isn’t she? The best thing about Marinette is she sees the best in everything. She’ll probably be touched you thought about her and use the flowers for inspiration or something.” Adrien let out a deep breath, trying to rein in his emotions while Nino stared at him, mouth agape. 

“Do you… like Marinette?” Nino asked, expecting to feel upset but instead he just felt amused. 

“No! She’s just a friend!” Adrien yelled.

“Doesn’t sound like it,” Nino pointed out. 

Adrien sighed, he had messed everything up, “She’s nice and pretty and smart and everything but I don’t like her!” He laughed, “Plus, you’re my best bud, I would never do that to you.”

Nino smiled, clapping the blond on the back. “Thanks dude.”

“No problem. Let’s drop in to the Dupain-Cheng’s bakery and say hi to Marinette,” Adrien suggested. “Not to mention I could really use a macaron right now.”

Nino laughed, “Me too.”

The two boys walked together, chatting about video games until they reached the bakery. 

Adrien and Nino both smiled at Tom Dupain-Cheng, he was a formidable man that they had both been scared of at first, but later realized that Mr. Dupain-Cheng wouldn’t hurt a fly.

“Marinette! Alya!” Tom thundered joyfully, “Some boys are here to see you!”

The girls rushed down, giggling to each other as Adrien watched them curiously, wondering what they were laughing about. 

“Adrien! Nino!” Alya smiled. “Nice to see you too!”

“Thanks Alya but we aren’t here to see you, we obviously came for Tom,” Nino joked and Mr. Dupain-Cheng chuckled heartily. 

After a moment, the four fell silent. 

“Nino, want something?” Marinette offered and he shook his head. “Adrien? What you about? Ugh, I mean how are you? I mean…” She trailed off. “Food?” 

Adrien smiled kindly, “It’s okay.”

Nino watched Marinette, a bittersweet smile on his face. He wasn’t blind. He saw the way Marinette looked at Adrien. He wished it was different but he was content with just being Marinette’s friend. He knew his best bro would take care of Mari when they finally got together. Adrien was a good dude, he deserved Marinette.  
Alya caught his eye, giving him a questioning glance, “You okay?” she mouthed and he gave her a thumbs up. She smiled at him and Nino thought maybe this is how things were supposed to work out.


End file.
